New Jersey Resident Agent Service

Why New Jersey requires a resident agent

Your New Jersey corporation, like an authorized foreign corporation, must keep a registered office in NJ at all times, and its resident agent's business office must be identical with that office. For corporations the agent can be any natural person 18 or older, with 14A:4-1(3) setting no express NJ-residency requirement, or a domestic or authorized foreign corporation. An LLC's agent must be any other person authorized to transact business in NJ, or an individual who lives in NJ (42:2C-14(c)), and an individual agent for an LP must be a NJ resident (42:2A-8(c)). N.J.S.A. 14A:4-1(1), (3); N.J.S.A. 42:2C-14(c)

What happens if you lapse

• The Secretary of State may, on the express ground that a foreign corporation has not kept a resident agent, revoke its certificate of authority after at least 90 days' notice and a chance to cure. N.J.S.A. 14A:13-10(1)(c)
• If no successor is named within 30 days after the agent resigns, the corporation is treated as having neither a resident agent nor a registered office in New Jersey, which leaves a domestic corporation open to substituted service and a foreign corporation open to revocation under 14A:13-10. N.J.S.A. 14A:4-4(3)
• Until it obtains a certificate of authority, a foreign corporation transacting business without one, including after revocation, cannot bring or keep any action in NJ courts, and 42:2C-65(a) is the parallel LLC rule. N.J.S.A. 14A:13-11(1)
• A foreign corporation doing business without authority forfeits $200 to $1,000 for each year, going back as many as 5 years, which the Attorney General recovers, and a foreign LLC pays $200 for every year or portion of one (42:2C-66). N.J.S.A. 14A:13-11(3)
• When a certificate of incorporation or authority is revoked by proclamation for two consecutive years of annual-report failure, reinstatement costs a $75 filing fee for reinstatement, $20 for the tax clearance filing, and the current annual report fee plus every delinquent one, and the corporate name may be lost in the meantime. N.J.S.A. 14A:4-5(7)

Switching to us

We prepare and file the change of resident agent for you. New Jersey charges $25 for an LLC DORES Registry Fee Schedules, 'Limited Liability Company and $25 for a corporation DORES Registry Fee Schedules, 'For-Profit Corporate and Limited....

Official New Jersey links

• New Jersey Division of Revenue - 609-292-9292
• Business entity search
• Statutes
• Forms
• Annual report filing

Frequently asked

Do I need a resident agent in New Jersey?

Almost every state does, and the New Jersey rule is set out above with its citation. Where the law leaves a choice, a resident agent is still the practical way to make sure service of process reaches you.

How much does New Jersey resident agent service cost?

$129 a year, with no setup fee, the same price in all 50 states plus DC, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Service of process is received and scanned the same business day.

Can I switch my New Jersey resident agent to ResidentAgents.com?

Yes. Order online and we prepare the change of agent filing for you; the state's filing fee is shown on this page.